There are taboos in kink - and then there are taboos in kink. You want tomake kinky people unhappy? Be a white dominant with a black submissive anduse the word "nigger" in your BDSM scene. The edgiest pervert in town willbe up in your face, telling you you've gone too far.

And they'd be right, wouldn't they? I've been asked to be the dominant inrace-play scenes, but I have firmly declined. I'm perfectly comfortablebeing a bitchy sadist, but to pretend to be superior to someone of colorjust because I'm white? Utter hateful racist epithets or hold a mock slaveauction? No way! What kind of girl do you think I am? That's just wrong!

But Mollena Williams (www.mollena.com) sees it differently. Williams is anAfrican-American writer, performer, and BDSM educator. She's also asubmissive who does BDSM race-play scenes, and she's challenging BDSMpeople to examine that taboo. I asked her to tell me her take on it.

How do you do race-play scenes and feel okay about it afterward? "You haveto know why you want to do this play. If you, as a white person, areovereager in approaching me with your fantasy of domination andoppression, my hackles go up. As the person taking the hit, I need to feelin control of the process up until I relinquish control... Those who donot know why they want this scene, who want 'payback,' who have deephatred - I see them as very risky partners in a race-play scene. Opencommunication, plenty of negotiation, and lots of aftercare areessential."

Doesn't it trivialize racial inequalities to do a BDSM scene around them?"Some kink is light and fluffy, but a great deal of kink revolves aroundtaboos, pain, and triumphing over adversity. If you think that doesn't sumup the human condition, then you aren't paying attention... Trust yourpartner enough to let him or her into your darkest fantasies. Of course weshould do what feels dangerous and risky! Surviving danger galvanizes thesoul."

Don't you feel that doing race scenes keeps negative stereotypes alive?"Absolutely. That is one reason I dive into those waters. I am of thepost-Jim Crow generation. I didn't live when racism was institutionalized.However, I live in a society where racism is endemic. It is absolutelyvital to tap into the past in order to handle the present and remain opento the future."

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night prevents the United StatesPostal Service from delivering the mail - unless that mail is consideredtoo sexually suggestive.

Anchor Bay Entertainment and Sue Procko Public Relations found that outthis week after the USPS refused to mail 800 postcards promoting the May 5DVD release of Look. The postcards feature a man in his boxers with hispants around his legs, a woman's legs wrapped around him, as they foolaround in a retail warehouse. There is no nudity in the scene, which has"It is LEGAL for your company to get permission to install HIDDEN CAMERASIN THE WORKPLACE!" written above it.

The mailing house that was sending the cards received a letter from theUSPS, telling them the postcards could only be mailed in envelopes, citingUnited States Code Title 39, Section 3010, Paragraph D, which prohibitsthe mailing of any "sexually oriented advertisement, meaning anyadvertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitlydescribes, in a predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act ofnatural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism,or any other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing".

Leather encompasses a wide array of fetishes and kinks associated withBDSM: Bondage and Discipline (B/D), Dominance and Submission (D/S) andSadism and Masochism (S/M). It includes all gender and sexualorientations, say its adherents. What unifies the community of "players"is the erotic exchange of power, as well as ideals of integrity andcamaraderie.

Glenda Rider, the executive producer of what everyone calls IMsL (whichstands for for International Ms. Leather and is pronounced "im-zuhl"),said the community "focuses on honor and respect, these reallyold-fashioned values, but expressed in edgy, kinky ways. We have a thingfor ceremony and rituals."

The centerpiece ceremony of the weekend was the competition forInternational Ms. Leather, in its 23rd year, and the 11th annualInternational Ms. Bootblack. Both serve as representatives of the leathercommunity at events in the U.S. and abroad, educating outside groups abouttheir community, and raising awareness and money for causes important tothe community.

A person who goes by "Olga's blu boi" said those who compete for thetitles have proven themselves to be community service leaders and haveraised money for services for all kinds of groups, including thoseadvocating for children, AIDS and cancer patients and survivors of abuse.

Slave Tabitha, who competed for the bootblack title, explainedbootblacking as the expert and devoted cleaning and care of leather bootsas service, eroticism, or both. A bootblack can be a top (one who "does")or a bottom (one who "is done to") in sexual or BDSM play.

Boi Moe, who taught Slave Tabitha how to bootblack, said, "I want toconnect with the person in the chair through their leather."

The title went to Pony, who is also an ordained Christian minister.

Winning titles, and their accompanying studded Leather sashes, werecertainly a focal point, but the weekend was also about learning throughworkshops on safety, recovery, play principles and techniques. Maybe moreimportantly, it is "a family reunion," according to Mina De Sade-Fatale, aMs. Leather competitor this year.

"We come from different countries, different states, to find people likeourselves," she said. "It's a family environment."

Let's face it we have all had thoughts, dreams and fantasies of kinkyunconventional, atypical sexual experiences. Our weakness for theforbidden dates back to the beginning of time, yet no matter howintriguing and compelling our secret desires become, we usually hold themcaptive in our unconscious mind. We allow our fears, pre- programming andthe prejudices of others to dictate permission to experience our ultimatesexuality. Who made the rules and banned the good stuff? Whose rules arebroken if we choose to meet our sexual needs and desires through methodsdeemed to be outside the box?

Kink is considered abnormal sex and is often seen as profane or deviant,but kink is in the eye of the beholder. One man's kink is boring sex toanother. Most everyone has tried sex with one partner wearing a blindfold,which can hardly be considered a profane or deviant act, but is held onthe list of kinky things to do. A blindfold offers the excitement andthrill of anticipation, a sensual feeling of vulnerability and lendsitself to a subtle but effective power exchange. It's erotic and provokesintense and powerful orgasms. Is it kinky or an aberrant sex practice?Actually it's just hot, steamy fabulous sex without any evil attached.

Kink offers a higher level of sensuality, eroticism and increased arousal.The added spice allows us to visit the many different levels of alteredstates. The list of kink ranges from the subtle to the serious andincludes such activities as masturbation (mutual or solo), bondage andrestraints, spanking, role-play, BDSM activities and the use of toys andgadgets to tweak and incite the body and mind. Each adaptation providesits own set of valuable assets. Sexual experiences spiced with kink reachfar beyond missionary style sex and a kiss goodnight to create a memorablesexual happening.

Is that a shirtless Superman chained to a table being whipped by a LoisLane in lingerie?

Yes and no.

It's the cover of "Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Creator,Joe Shuster" ($24.95, Abrams ComicArts) and one of the book's more mildart works.

Shuster, the former Glenville boy who created Superman with Jerry Siegelin the 1930s, drew for a limited-edition publication called "The Nights ofHorror" in the mid-1950s under a pseudonym. The undersized magazinecontains stories of sex, sadism, torture and any other kind of kinkimaginable.

Shuster drew illustrations to accompany the sordid words.

It came at a time when Shuster's eyesight was failing and he wasstruggling. The co-creator of the most recognized fictional character inthe world was barely surviving working as a delivery man in New York. Hehad lost his battles with DC Comics over the rights to Superman. He neededthe money, and a job was a job.

"The Nights of Horror" was an amateur publication run out of a guy'sbasement in Queens. It was sold in New York newsstands, or under them, for$3 and lasted 16 issues. The magazines, smaller than a modern comic book,are among the rarest of "comics."

In fact, few even knew they existed.

It must have given Shuster a bit of a thrill to use his skills to make thecharacters in the sado-masochistic drawings resemble Superman, Lois Lane,Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor. Perhaps it was a way to strike back at thecomics company he felt had wronged him.

Feedback letters are an effective way to convey a positive image ofalternate sexual practices such as SM, swinging, or polyamory. You canhelp to correct negative social myths and misconceptions about these typesof practices. These letters help achieve the advocacy goals of the NCSF.

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A project of NCSF and ITCR: The Foundation of NCSF

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) is a national organizationcommitted to altering the political, legal, and social environment in theU.S. in order to guarantee equal rights for consenting adults who practiceforms of alternative sexual expression. NCSF is primarily focused on therights of consenting adults in the SM-leather-fetish, swing, and polyamorycommunities, who often face discrimination because of their sexualexpression.

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About Incident Reporting & Response

The NCSF Incident Reporting & Response (IRR) program provides assistance to individuals and groups within the alternative sexual expression communities who become victimized because of SM, leather, fetish, or swing practices.

Program Goals: NCSF's Incident Reporting & Response was created to provide assistance to individuals and groups within the BDSM, swinging and poly communities who are experiencing discrimination or needs assistance because of their interests and activities.